Van Kampen wants a raise
From The Wall Street Journal
Bucking the trend of recent fee decreases by several prominent fund families and lower fees in general, in part due to the rise in popularity of index funds, Van Kampen is seeking to raise fees on its Emerging Growth Fund. Specifically, the funds want to raise the advisory fee by 12 basis points. This seems to assume that fund investors will have limited memory of the recent stretch where VK's funds tanked and will pay more attention to the recent stellar performance. Van Kampen will also ask shareholders in a meeting to day to vote to allow the fund to buy larger cap stocks -- the fund's manager says that it will probably close to new investors if this isn't accomplished.

Vanguard raises minimum for hot fund
From TheStreet.com
Vanguard is raising the minimum investment for its hot Capital Opportunities Fund from 3K to 25K. The fund has performed well in 1999 -- in the top 3% of its peers -- and the hot money has followed that performance, swelling the coffers to $877 million at the end of August from just $206 million at the beginning of the year. The move is designed to moderate cash flow in order to keep the fund open.

Enhanced index funds come with enhanced hype and enhanced fees
From CBS Marketwatch
Paul Farrell discusses his love for the concept of the enhanced index fund. Some of his advice includes, "Run far away," "It's a dumb idea," and "It's just advertising hype." While several of the so-called enhanced index funds have beat the bogey, almost all have higher expenses than the top index funds, some have loads, and many are riskier. 

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